Chapter 170 - Watch The Doggo

After my head cleared enough for me to, with reluctance, leave JJ's lap and stand on my own, I opened map app on my phone to gauge the place while JJ called Avarice. Both tasks weren't easy. I could hear Avarice's irate voice coming from JJ's phone, even from where I stood with my own.

JJ's voice was stern as he spoke with her. "This is as fast as it goes, Avarice. We could've waited until Diana located the address, but we called you so you could prepare yourself and your people. Hurrying us won't help you at all." He paused, listening to something Avarice said. "If you keep like that, you will end up owing ME a favour for the excellent customer service I provided by being so patient."

"I got it!" I interrupted their conversation before the vampires could tear each other apart verbally. "I got the place!"

And it only took a GPS-locator in my phone, some waving around to establish a direction, and remembering how many houses there were between me and my goal. The last part was the hardest, but the sensations overload seared everything I saw in my mind, all that clear path through the sixty-four houses.

"Yes, you heard that right, Avarice," JJ said into the phone and came up to me.

I showed him the map where I pointed out the place. "It's a residential building, and Anon was in one of the apartments. Somewhere in the middle of it, but I'm not absolutely sure about the storey. It was hazy."

JJ grinned at me and leaned to plant a quick kiss on my lips. "Great work, ma chèrie. Avarice, the address is… Faience street, twenty-two." He paused to listen. "Avarice says she will move out there immediately, but on car. Since time is of the essence, I suggest further separation."

I reached out and pressed the speakers button. Immediately, Avarice's voice poured out. "Don't waste time talking, Dragonslayer!"

"Only a minute," he assured her and looked me in the eye. "As much as I hate leaving you alone again, ma chèrie. I would get to the place the fastest on my own feet. After I rescue Denis, the rest of us, including Avarice, would be free to act as we wish."

I didn't want to think about what "as we wish" meant in this scenario, but nodded anyway. This was a rescue operation, first, at least for me. The rest was… Inevitable, I supposed. "Of course. We got it! The car isn't there, anyway. We will get back to it and join you."

JJ's lips stretched into a razor-edge thin smile. "Everything could very well be over by then." Then his features softened. "You might as well rest at home."

"Nope. Have to see it through. Go on, don't wait for us."

"Just one last thing." He pointed at Andrey. The werewolf looked so unassuming with the way he laid down on the sidewalk, just like another homeless dog, that I almost entirely forgot about his presence. "Andrey should stay under until morning, but I recommend you to leave him in a secured cell. Avarice should have one. Now, just one really last thing…"

He cupped my cheek and grinned. "A kiss for luck."

Some distance away, Panda shook her head in exasperation. I caught the motion with a corner of my eye and in a knee-jerk reaction tried to move away from JJ, feeling my cheeks heating. Before I could, he caught me by my waist.

"Running away now?" JJ raised his brows.

I huffed, unable to look away from his eyes, because then I'd see Panda and Ghost, who silently watched and judged. "Well, since you already embarrassed me, I might as well push through." With these words, I put my fingers into his hair and pulled him closer until our lips met in a hard, intense, and very brief kiss.

"Should be enough luck for you to rob a few casino," I muttered as I pushed away from him.

JJ flashed me another grin and waved at the rest of us. "I will see you all again soon if everything goes smoothly," he said.

Then he ran, leaving only a blur of motion behind. In just a blink, he was gone.

"Keep going like that, Diana, and I will turn hetero," Panda said, shaking her head again. "There should be a rule against doing PDA on operations like these."

"You just came for company, didn't you? Company doesn't have a say," I threw back, feeling my headache slowly returning. I rubbed at my temples and wondered how long and how many pain-sucking operations it would take for it to pass entirely. "Let's get back before the sunrise comes."

By the time we came back to where we left our lent car, which was Avarice's mansion, she and Alexey weren't around anymore. Instead of the, we were met by a grim and lanky man—maybe even a teen, he certainly didn't look older than twenty. He had a bandage on his arm, and his words were curt and unfriendly.

"Boss said to let you in and out, but if the cur barks wrong, we are putting him on ice." He drew a line with a thumb over his neck, leaving no doubts about what the euphemism meant.

"Alllright." I gave Andrey a tense look. What a pain. If I just let him go, he'd return again, I was pretty sure. To fight, again. But to let him die? This was unimaginable. "Don't you have a safe place where he could be stuffed in, alive?"

The young man shrugged. "Yeah, but under watch. Your watch, your responsibility."

I exchanged glances with Panda. "You know, Avarice has great food stashed at her place. For all the other people she keeps around, I guess. Maybe you'd be able to get some."

"Are you leaving me to look after him?"

"Well, Ghost needs to drive, don't you?" I poked at Ghost's arm.

"I think I remember more and more about traffic laws with each minute at the driving wheel," he said with a dreamy smile. "It's just like riding a bike."

Panda sighed and gave Andrey an absentminded pat. "That's for the best, really," she said. "I only came for the company anyway, didn't I? Just don't go back to being an asshole until Jean-Jacques returns, Andrey."

He didn't respond. All for the best—I doubted he had anything good to say about us.